Ashes to Ashes
by C4L3N
Summary: The continuation of "After Sacrifice" following Rael'Shepard the son of Tali and Shepard. War has broken out yet again within the Terminus Systems. One man will become known as the galactic legend reborn.
1. Rael'Shepard

the next chapter is slowly in the making. im trying do at least a part of a paragraph per day. In order to keep you all updated ill be changing the top of this chapter.

Now for the story...

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The night was cold, Rael had been camping between settlements for nearly a week now. He was tired from the work he had done the previous day. It had been exactly eight days since his father allowed him to leave and see the rest of the world. Hard work and survival classes had been paying off, he finally accepted his father wasn't just being a hard-ass. He pulled out a photo of his parents as he sat under a tree on his makeshift bedding.

He had remembered the old stories his father used to tell him about things called Reapers, it was far fetched but it fealt true. He pulled up his omnitool and started watching some old home videos. Rannoch was mearly one planet but he had never fealt so far away from home in his life. His eighteenth birthday was in 3 days, he had hoped to catch a shuttle back home.

Rael fell asleep as his omnitool started playing back an old Quarian hymn his mother would sing quietly. She would sit in the living room and think or she would be re-repairing things over and over, no matter what she would be singing quietly to herself. Even his father from time to time could be heard singing in Kellish. He could never understand how his father was human, but he never found a reason to question race when he knew he was lucky to even be conceived.

..

He woke up and cleared his visor, even though he had a stronger immune system then other Quarians due to the trace amounts of human genes, he still had to wear an envirosuit. He got up and immediately went to the farm where he was working for food.

"Good morning, Shaal," He said still waking up.

Shaal was the owner of the farm, a kind man but stern and he never put up with slacking.

"Good morning, Rael. Ready to pull in the crops?"

"Yessir, grab the first one and show me where you want the rest."

"Sounds good, tell you what. Since you've been doing good work I'll throw some credits your way this time plus dinner."

"Thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Don't thank me Rael, you've earned it. Plus I figure your father and mother miss you."

"I miss them myself," Rael said somewhat quietly, Shaal heard sadness in his voice and immediately reacted.

"Come on Rael, let's get these crops pulled in, Quarians don't eat if there's no food in the kitchen."

Rael went out with Shaal and started helping with the cutting and harvesting of crops. His father told him that many of the crops on Rannoch were similar to the ones on Earth. The crops he was pulling in were similar to wheat. As such it was made into breads the Quarians made over 300 years ago.

..

After he loaded the last bale, Shaal transfered some credits to Rael.

"Come on, my wife's got some dinner cooking now."

"Thank you, I'm starving."

He had nutripaste in his belt but he was tired of it. They say it has no taste but to him it did, he always thought it tasted of rotten vegitables. He walked down the dirt path to a small house bordering the field.

"We're done in the fields!" Shaal yelled.

"Good to hear, dinner is almost ready. Find a chair!" she yelled back.

She brought out a meal of bread, fish and water out to each of them.

"This smells amazing as always."

"Thank you Rael, you're always so well mannered."

They all removed their visors and payed respects to the ancestors before eating.

"So, I hear your birthday is coming up," Shaal's wife began.

"Yes it is, I was hoping to catch a shuttle back home to spend it with my parents."

"Ah, well just be careful. As tradition goes, after a childs eighteenth birthday they are givin a choice. Stay and help the people or leave for a pilgramige," Shaal said.

"Pilgramige? Why would we send anyone out anymore we have our homeworld."

"Because we do not wish to be confined, we can stay and rebuild but if we do not explore we do not learn."

"I think I understand," Rael said as he finished his meal and replaced his visor.

"You're off to bed I take it?" Shaal's wife asked.

"Yes, I'm exhausted."

"I still don't understand why you would rather sleep outside than in the guest room."

"I prefer to be under the stars."

"I see, well, you're welcome to come inside if you're ever too cold."

Rael walked outside and headed to his usual spot, under a 'maple tree' (as his father called them) on top of a hill overlooking the vast farmlands. A river cut through the landscape meeting the small irrigation networks dotting the countryside. He could make out Geth workers tirelessly maintaining the crops when the Quarians were asleep. He pulled out a device his mother had made for him.

It was a sterile field generator, strange enough it attached to where his helmet would be. He desided he would finally test it out to see if it worked. He took his helmet off and began attaching the device to his suit. After a few minutes he switched it on, a bubble of light flickered and rings of light appeared to move around the bubble. The bubble then faded away, he touched his hand to where the bubble was and a ring of light engulfed his finger, sterilizing anything on the suit that was organic.

"Amazing," he reattached his helmet and switched the sterile unit off.

He slumped down to the tree where his bedding was, he layed down and watched as the stars moved ever so slowely. A ship came from the distance and landed on the docking pad in town. He heard something that ounded odd, he got up and zoomed his visor in. The crew of the ship caught his attention first, Vorcha and Batarians. They came in under the cover of night, but why?

He started moving in slowely to get a better view, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It was Shaal and his wife, why were they out here?

"Don't go any farther, if they see you you're as good as dead."

"Who are they?"

"Slavers, you see, Quarians are known for their proficiency with mechanics and engineering. We're worth good money to the right people."

"Lemmi at least get an ID on that ship, we can report it then."

"Just don't get caught."

Rael snuck up behind a building about a hundred metres from the landed ship. He needed to move in closer, he opened the window of the house and quietly snuck through it. He checked his omnitool, eighty-two metres. He was just close enough to pull an ID on the ship, he began running the hack.

Shaal watched as Vorcha carried people into the ship, he couldn't do anything about it. He was a farmer, he didn't fire weapons he grw and harvested crops. He hoped that Rael would be able to pull the ID and get out of there alive.

"Come on," Rael said quietly as his omnitool was at the final percentage for the hack.

As it finally hit a hundred percent a crash came from behind him, a Vorcha a had broken through the window he snuck through and was going for the bedroom. He saw his chance to save someone. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, he snuck into the bedroom and snuck up behind the Vorcha. Pulling up the blade he reached over to the arms and locked them in place as he quietly slit its throat.

The couple in the bed woke up to the sound of the Vorcha choking on its own blood.

"What's going on here?"

Rael put a finger to his visor and shushed them. "Slavers, you nearly got carried away."

"You're that Rael boy aren't you?"

"Yes, but now is not the time. We need to get out of here, I'll go and see if anyone else is left."

The couple nodded and jumped out the window running for the hill where Shaal was. Rael wen't to the next house next door, there were three Vorcha inside and a single Batarian with an Avenger. As they cleared the house the Batarian walked around checking for valuables. Rael snuck up behind him and planted the knife in his neck severing his brain stem from the spine. The Batarian immediately dropped to the ground.

Rael picked up the rifle and the pistol and scavanged whatever thermal clips were on the body. He booby trapped the body with a tech mine and crawled out the window to a short alley. He followed it untill he found the back entrence to the food storage warehouse. He took the pistol out and shot the lock on the door. He entered to find several Quarians hiding inside, he quickly turned to the door and welded it shut and contnued along the outside of the building.

He slowely realised that the house he had first gotten into was the last on the street, he ran back to the hill. As he reached the tree an explosion rang out from his tech mine, he heard several Vorcha and Batarians screem. He ran behind the hill and felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Thought you could slip away from us didn't you?" A Batarian voice came from behind him.

He turned around knife in hand and brought it up into the Batarians jaw. He pulled the pistol out and shot multiple times. Batarian blood was all over him as he froze in place. He was mortified by what he saw, four Vorcha stood with a single Quarian to it's knees and a gun to its head.

"You drop weapon now!" One of the Vorch screamed in its raspy voice.

He dropped the pistol and unlatched the rifle.

"Come over here and turn around!"

He walked over and got to his knees after turning around so his back faced them. A shot rang out and four bodys dropped to the ground. 'I'm going to die, mother, father...' his thought was cut short as familiar three fingered hands picked him up.

"The didn't shoot you? What was that shot?"

"Whoever it was, there coming over here now."

A figure walked towards them with a Widow slung around his shoulder. His armor was Quarian but he had, five fingers.

"Dad?.. Dad!" Rael started running towards the figure.

"Rael, you ok? I picked up slavers on the radar and came as fast as I could."

"How did you take those Vorcha out?"

"Vorcha have a knack for staying in one spot too long, between that and they formed a pretty straight line," Shepard laughed.

"Anyway, we need to get out of here, are there anymore survivors?"

Yes there were some people in the food storage warehouse. I welded the door closed to keep any intruders out or at least buy them some time."

"Good work, you all stay here, I'll go get them."

Shepard ran down the hill and took cover behind a building. He looked over to the ship counting it's crew, he might be able to save them all but hed need help. He thought hard about it and desided his son was the only one capable of helping save these people. "Rael, get over here." He said through a secure channel.

Rael ran to where his father was and took cover next to him. Shepard motioned for him to sneak into the building through the same window he had broken into earlier. Rael nodded as he began his move into the window, knife in hand. Voices came from inside as Rael got behind a wall inside the house. A couple Vorcha walked toward him not knowing he was there, he crouched down.

As the Vorcha passed by him he came up thrusting the knife into one Vorcha's chest and gradually pulling it out and slicing the other's throat. Shepard crawled through the window and noticed the Vorcha. He smiled at the fact his boy could handle himself in close quarters. He motioned for Rael to follow him to the windows facingthe ship, they looked outside.

The cew was frantic in collecting it's dead to avoid being found out about.

"Nows our chance, Rael I'm going to move to the control tower entrence. As soon as I'm in position you open fire on them with that rifle," he checked the thermal clips on his pistol and proceeded to the window on the side.

"Be careful father."

Shepard carefully opened the window and climbed out quietly. He began quickly making his way across the street hoping not to be seen. A couple Vorcha came out of the door in front of him as he jumped to the corner by the door. They walked by not noticing him, he walked up and grabbed them both shoving his omnitool blade into both of them quietly. He caried them to where he had hidden and proceeded to the command tower by the shuttle dock.

Rael watched as his father got into position, Shepard gave him the open fire signal and Rael began firing onto the ship. The crew scrambled to cover as they looked for the attacker. As soon as they pinpointed his position they opened fire on him. Shepard snuck u and found the hydrolics on the rear legs of the ship. He opened the maintanence hatch and cut the hydrolic tubes and the ship dropped causing the crew to tumble.

Shepard ran inside shooting each of the crew in the head, only one Batarian out of eight crewmembers. He moved up into the main holding bay and went directly for the captain in the cockpit. As he entered the cockpit he shot the pilot in the head but fealt a gun to his helmet. A shot rang out as he froze, he felt the side of his helmet realizing he was still alive. Rael had shot the captain in the hand causing him to drop his weapon.

Shepard drew back and laid the captain out with a single punch to the side of the head.

"Take that you bosh'tet, you'll rot in prison for this."

"You ok," Rael asked as he walked up behind his father and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, how are you doing? After all I'd imagine this is the first time you've had to kill," he turned to Rael.

"I'm a little shakey but I feel like everytrhing I did was based on what the adrenaline told me to do."

"So you ot some of my warrior spirit did you?" Shepard laughed.

"I guess I did," Rael ran back into the holding area and began releasing the Quarians.

They all thanked him graciously for saving them, one of them was the law-keeper of the settlement. He walked back and grabbed the Batarian captain and drug him back to the jailhouse. He nodded to Rael as he passed by him showing his gratitude.

Shepard followed Rael outside the ship and turned around, he put a hand on the exterior.

"You know I had a ship like this once, it was Geth and Turian design."

"Really?"

"Yes, this is the same general shape but the ship was Geth which meant no windows."

Shepard turned to Rael and lead him back to his shuttle behind the hills overlooking the settlement.

"So what's the name of this settlement? It's not on the maps so it must be relatively recent."

"Shur'Anise, they only just finished their first harvest of wheat."

"Shur'Anise," Shepard thought.

"That was the first Quarian to lead a prosperous farming community before the Geth uprising," he finished.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Rael asked puzzled.

"Your great aunt, Shala'Raan tought me the same things you've been learning."

"Why is she my aunt if she isn't related?"

"She supported your mother since she was very young, then she supported your mother and I when we moved to the homeworld."

"I, think I understand."

As they climbed up the second hill they saw the shuttle. Rael looked suprised at it and ran up to it examining it closely.

"Where did you get this? I've never seen it before."

"This is the shuttle we had on the Normandy. It's been through hell and back and still runs perfectly."

He opened the hatch and they both climbed in, Rael looked around notcing the memorabilia laying about. An old picture of two human males hung on the wall by the hatch.

"Who are these Human males?"

"'sigh' Two very brave men, this shuttle was recovered from where it crashed back on Earth during the battle for the conduit."

"But wht were their names?"

Shepard got up and removed the photograph from the wall.

"This man on the right is Steve Cortez, the other whome he has his arm around is his husband Robert Cortez." He replaced the photo and sat back down.

Rael looked puzzled for a moment, "husband? I wasn't aware same sex marriage was real."

"It is still highly contraversial among Humans, though it is allowed throughout most of humanities civilization, there are those who believe it is wrong."

"Father, you speak as if you aren't human, yet you are."

"Keelah Rael, you sound like my mother."

The shuttle slowely came to a stop as it came close to the pad.

"I think it may be a good idea to cut this short, you know how your mother gets when I start talking about the past."

"Yeah, I hate seeing her like that. Why does she freeze up like that?"

Shepard got up and went to the shuttle door.

"You'll know why soon enough, come on, let's go to the house. I'm sure she's worried about you seeing as how you've been gone a long as you have. OH, and don't tell her about the slavers, I'll talk to her after she sees the news feed tomorrow."

Rael nodded and followed as his father began moving towards the house. He looked around as he enjoyed familiar surroundings, a lush garden of flowers under the front windows to the right of the door. He removed his visor to go smell the flowers, it was amazing how such small things can bring about such calm. Tali walked outside as Rael was replacing his visor, she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"Am I in trouble?" Rael asked as he approached her.

"No, but your father probably forgot that I'm aware of when something is up. I've known him long enough to know when something serious has his attention."

"He came for me, thats a plus isn't it?"

"Of course but I do plan on questioning you both on the specifics tomorrow, anyway, it is late and I'm sure we all need to get some sleep."

Rael nodded and followed her inside. He hugged her and nodded to Shepard as he went to his room. He sighed while he removed his suit and crawled into bed. The soft sheets were amazing since he had been sleeping under a tree for the past week. He turned over to see a familiar picture on the wall of his Advanced school sweetheart Aleah'Nara. He had thought of her a lot since he had been gone. Soon he drifted to sleep to dream of the previous day and the events passed.


	2. Hardships

I appologise for the lateness of this chapter however my work/personal life got in the way more often than id like to admit. It's a little shorter than the first chapter but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less. I will be expanding this chapter before starting the next so be sure to check up here before starting chapter three. I'll mark the addition with a \/\/\/\/ so that you're aware of where the addition is instead of searching for it line by line.

Now without further stalling for time, the long awaited chapter.

Rael woke up and yawned heavily, he pushed the sheets off, slowely got up and threw on some clothes his father had ordered from a Human trader on Illium. Tali came into the room just seconds later to wake him up only to find him dressed. "Good morning child, I hope you slept well. I made breakfast, come into the kitchen and eat," she said softly.

"I slept well, thank you mother. I'll be out in a second," Rael picked up an old module he'd been working on since he was fifteen. He had been on and off tinkering with it, disassembling, reassembling, upgrading and downgrading for fun.

Rael put the module down and walked outside his room shutting the door behind him. He walked down the hall and into the dining area where his mother and father sat eating. The smell of eggs and bacon made his stomach growl loud enough to scare off a raging Krogan. He sat down in a chair opposite his mother and dug into the plate Tali had set for him.

"You look like you enjoying it, your father has taught me a few things about human cooking." Tali laughed as she watched her son inhale the food.

"How are you feeling?" Shepard asked looking up from the news feed on his holopad.

Rael paused for a moment, "Better, I'm still a little sore but it's nothing that'll kill me."

"Well your mother interrogated me this morning for the details. Shes proud of you for being able to defend others. Of course the side of my head still hurts from the slap I got moments later." Shepard rubbed the red spot on his left cheek, Tali chuckled and bent over to kiss him on the bruise.

"Were not done discussing it yet my love," She whispered into Shepards ear. He got a look of both discomfort and surprise.

"Ancestors have mercy on my soul," He thought to himself as he slowely inched away from her before she kicked him.

Rael watched the scene and smiled, he tried not to laugh at hs father for being the way he was. However he was well aware of what his mother was capable of when she was in a foul mood, the thought made him cringe a little. Rael proceeded to take a bite of his breakfast as thoughts of the previous day flowed through his mind. A thud came from outside and Shepard got up imediately. He went to the door and opened it to check what the noise was.

Shepard stood there frozen for a moment before closing the door. He motioned for Tali to come toward him. They both whispered amongst eachother finally nodding and turning to Rael.

"You wanted to learn more about the Reaper war right? We contacted some, friends to give you a first hand account." Shepard said.

Tali walked over to Rael and put a hand on his shoulder. "You must be strong for this, I wanted your first present to be this because you were so interested. But please do not be disrespectful, the one you are about to meet is very powerful."

"We call him Leviathan, it took a lot of negotiating to get them to do this." Shepard motioned for Rael to come to the door.

Rael got up from the table and walked to the door. Shepard opened the door to reveal a strange orb. Rael moved closer to it and examined it, moments later he froze in place. He was in a dark place, the ground was like a solid mist. A being appeared before him resembling a human male.

"Are you, Leviathan?" Rael asked nervously.

"I am to give you a glimps into the conflict with our synthetic creations your people call the Reapers." The man said without any kind of emotion at all, the voice was deep and bellowing.

"What will happen to me?"

"What you will witness will test your strength."

A flash of light engulfed Rael and a vision came to him, like he was looking through a camera. Scenes of battle came to him, Tuchanka, Earth, Palaven and finally Rannoch. After a few moments of watching this grizzly scene he woke up from his trance like state and after allowing himself a few seconds to recover, immediately ran to his room.

Shepard put an arm around Tali, she put her head on his shoulder. They went to his room and knocked on the door. Rael opened the door, his head bowed down in remourse. Tali took him to the bed and sat down next to him.

"The things you saw, are all true. As bad as it was we should never forget what happened, these lessons should always be remembered if we are to never repeat those mistakes."

"A..., all those people. So many dead because of those, machines... What about the Geth? Are they going to turn on us? After seeing what I saw I dont think I can ever trust synthetics again." Rael sighed, leaned forward and rested his hands on his legs.

"The Geth already rebelled once, I helped to fix that problem. A good friend gave his life to end the war." Shepard leaned against the door.

"Legion was a very close friend of ours, a VI was constructed as a memorial to his sacrifice. We have taken you there but if you want to really get to know who he was, you'll want to talk to one of the Geth around here."

Rael took asecond to think about everything and hugged his mother. "Thank you, I'm... Glad I got to see what I saw. It was not enjoyable but I now know what happened. I, just hope I never have to see that kind of slaughter myself. I think I'm going to take a walk, get some fresh air."

Tali sighed and put an arm around him. Rael looked at his mother with respect in all the hardships that she went through.

Shepard chuckled, "You know your mom does that too."

"Huh?" Rael looked at his father confused, "What do you mean?"

Tali laughed, "Wringing your hands when you're upset or nervous, I know exactly who you got that from." Tali smiled.

"Yeh it's a bit of a habit," Rael smirked. "Allright well I'll see you guys in a while."

"Be back in time for dinner now!" Tali yelled down the hall as Rael left the house.

Rael walked from street to street occasionally greeting those he knew. A celebration of his passing into adulthood was to be held in the central garden as was tradition of the ancestors pre-dating the Geth war.

As he walked around he thought long and hard about the events of the previous day. The first time he had taken a life, it haunted him how easily he was able to do it without second thought. It haunted him that he did it period, he detested violence with a passion. Yet he felt releaved he was able to help save those people from the slavers. Had he not acted, he may have wound up on that ship in a cell drugged and sold to the highest bidder.

He shook his head and tried to focus on other things, but the images that flooded his mind consumed his thoughts. If he stopped thinking about the previous day the images shown to him by Leviathen would flood his mind.

A hand came to his shoulder along with a familiar voice, "Your big day is coming up isn't it?"

Rael spun around to see former Adm. Shala Raan.

He stepped back, "Yeah I'm a little nervous."

Shala smiled behind her visor, "Have you chosen your path yet?"

"No, I want to explore but I fear losing my family while I am gone. The only other relative I have is on Earth and she only visits once every year or two," He stood there wringing his hands.

Shala put an arm on his shoulder, "You shouldn't fear for them, they have survived where many thought they would not. They saved the universe from the Reapers. "She paused for a moment, " What matters is that you remember them and never forget them. Never forget who you are even in the worst of times."

"Thank you, Shala. What you said means a lot to me," Rael hugged her and took a step backward. " I'm going to go home now, It's getting late."

Shala waved goodbye as Rael proceeded down the street with a new sense of direction.

Rael walked through the door to be greeted by the one person who would turn his legs to rubber.

"A.. Aleah! what are you doing here? I haven't seen you since..." Rael studdered for a second.

"Advanced engineering school? I thought I'd come by and see you. After all what are friends for?" Aleah laughed as she walked up and hugged him.

"Yeah I missed you, where did your parnts wind up bringing you?"

"A small mining settlement called Tiala, named after the woman who first found the ore deposites inside over three centuries ago. The Geth never touched the place, appearently they actually never touched any of our mines, they started their own instead."

"You always were the history nut," Rael laughed.

The two reminisced for a couple hours before Aleah departed, seeing his sweetheart skyrocketed his mood. Rael bid his parent goodnight after eating dinner and went to sleep knowing that whatever his choice was he would always be supported.


End file.
